Cavs: A 10-day deal for Marques Bolden is a sensible move

The Cleveland Cavaliers reportedly signed big man Marques Bolden to a 10-day contract on Thursday, which was a sensible move.

The Cleveland Cavaliers reportedly signed big man Marques Bolden to a 10-day contract on Thursday, which is a sensible move.

General manager Koby Altman announced that recently, according to a Cavs’ official release of the signing.

This is a corresponding move, for reference.

According to Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor, big Tyler Cook‘s 10-day contract, which was the second of that variety with the Cavaliers this season, expired on Thursday.

Bolden, who went undrafted in 2019, previously played in NBA Summer League for the Cavaliers, and was on the squad in preseason, too.

In those preseason games with the Wine and Gold, Bolden had 4.0 points, 2.8 rebounds and tied for the team lead with 0.8 blocks in 14.8 minutes per game, as noted by NBA.com. In the 2019-20 season with the Canton Charge, the Cavs’ G-League affiliate team, Bolden has been a good roller and screener, just as was the case with the Cavaliers in preseason/Summer League.

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Bolden has averaged 9.0 points on 64.2 percent shooting as an interior finisher, predominantly, to go with 6.3 rebounds and 1.4 blocks in 18.4 minutes per game in 28 appearances, according to Basketball Reference’s G-League statistics.

Bolden, though reported injuries kept him from really taking off at Duke, averaged 1.1 blocks per game in 13.6 minutes in his three-year career there, as noted by Sports Reference. As a key big in his junior year, Bolden had 1.7 blocks in 19.0 minutes per contest, however.

If the Cleveland Cavaliers play Bolden in occasional spot minutes, I’d imagine he’ll be a quality screener and provide a formidable presence at the rim defensively at 6-foot-10 with a 7-foot-5 wingspan.

We’ll see how the trade deadline, which is on February 6, shakes out in relation to Bolden potentially getting a bit of meaningful minutes as a rotational big.

It would seem that both Tristan Thompson and feasibly John Henson, who are both expiring, would have a high possibility of being on the move. Kevin Love, given that he reportedly wants to be traded, according to Fedor, could be on move, too, but with Love being due to make $91.5 million over the next three seasons following 2019-20, Love would seem to have a higher possibility of sticking with Cleveland through the deadline.

This summer, with Love realistically having two feet out the door, even after him saying he’d be “happy” to be with the Cavs post-deadline last week, though, I’d expect Love to be dealt if he’s still around following February 6, with 2020 looking like a weak free agent class and also factoring in that the salary cap is going to be elevated “from $109.1M this year.”

That news was reported by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Bobby Marks on Thursday.

Nonetheless, even with that elevation likely for this year, in terms of next season, according to Wojnarowski and Marks, the “original 2020-21 cap projection of $116 million could drop as far as $113 million, front-office executives have told ESPN.”

This decline is likely related to the NBA market in China taking a hit, per Woj and Marks, but they also noted how “the salary cap and tax could still increase as much as $3.5%,” and that this news likely will not cause much in terms of trade deadline impact, so the Cavs’ roster flexibility I’d also think would be kept for potential deals, in regards to this 10-day deal for Bolden.

"“China’s decision to pull sponsorships and television coverage because Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey tweeted support for anti-government protesters in Hong Kong in October is believed to have cost the NBA anywhere between $150 million and $200 million, league sources said.Based on ESPN’s conversations with team executives, the potential drop in revenue isn’t expected to significantly impact the deadline behavior of teams. Salary-cap space is less important this summer than in past years, because only seven teams are currently poised to have salary-cap space above the projected $9.8 million midlevel exception. Also, the talent pool of players available in free agency isn’t considered strong.”"

Now Woj would later on note that the projected cap is going to be $115 million, and the luxury tax threshold projection, for reference, is $139 million. That’s a projected $2 million drop.

Anyhow, this 10-day deal for Bolden is a sensible move by the Cleveland Cavaliers, and again, with Cook not getting a rest-of-season deal, this could Bolden a chance to flash some ability as a rim runner/protector, and again, maintain roster flexibility near the deadline, as Fedor alluded to.

That’s especially the case with Ante Zizic, who though he’s on an expiring contract as well with Cleveland reportedly declining picking up his fourth-year option for 2020-21, is sidelined indefinitely with a reported vestibular condition, and even with him feasibly staying put, won’t likely be available much and fully ready to go.

This is nice to see for the 21-year-old Bolden, too, and this Canton Charge video of the call-up is pretty cool.

For now, the Cavs’ roster stands at 17, as the team noted in their release.

That also takes into account the other current 10-day man in Alfonzo McKinnie, who should be given a rest-of-season deal following the expiration of his current 10-day, and two two-way players in Dean Wade and Matt Mooney.

So again, with the Cavs’ lack of rim protection outside of Henson, really, this call-up for Bolden is a sensible one. If he plays meaningful minutes, though, is uncertain at this point.